Manchester City will entertain Borussia Dortmund at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night hoping to pick up a win in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarterfinal tie. The Mancunian giants managed to secure a 2-0 win over Leicester City last weekend. In contrast, Dortmund got beaten by Eintracht Frankfurt by a 2-1 scoreline, which has halted their momentum going into this game.
Talking Tactics
Pep Guardiola is likely to set his team up in a 4-3-3 formation and will ask his players to dominate possession of the ball so that they can engineer a few clear-cut opportunities in the attacking third of the field.
Dortmund interim head coach Edin Terzić will probably opt for a 4-1-4-1 formation and is expected to rely on Erling Haaland’s brilliance to find some weaknesses in the Man City defence on the counter.
Team News
Manchester City
Pep Guardiola has no new injury concerns and should have a fully fit squad available for selection in midweek.
Manchester City Predicted XI
Ederson; Walker, Dias, Stones, Cancelo; Rodri, Gundogan, De Bruyne; Silva, Sterling, Foden
Borussia Dortmund
Axel Witsel, Marcel Schmelzer, Dan-Axel Zagadou, Youssoufa Moukoko and Jadon Sancho are all unavailable because of injuries. Otherwise, Terzić has no fresh injuries worries to cope with heading into this away clash versus the Premier League leaders.
Borussia Dortmund Predicted XI
Hitz; Can, Akanji, Hummels, Guerreiro; Delaney, Bellingham, Dahoud; Hazard, Haaland, Reus
Key Men
Manchester City
Kevin De Bruyne will carry most of the creative workload for his team while Ilkay Gundogan, Phil Foden and Raheem Sterling look to threaten the Dortmund goal. The defensive performance of Ruben Dias would also be crucial in determining the fate of this contest.
Borussia Dortmund
Unsurprisingly, Erling Haaland will be Terzic’s best hope for a goal on Tuesday. Both Thorgan Hazard and Marco Reus have to find a way to deliver some decent service for the Norwegian striker from the wide areas. Marwin Hitz can also expect a busy night as he will have to make some saves to keep his team in the game.
Odds
Man City are 4/11 favorites to secure a victory in this game while the draw has been listed at 19/5 by the bookmakers. Dortmund are 15/2 underdogs to pull off an upset at the Etihad Stadium in midweek.
